Metal Fangs on Satin Glass
by Aoi Shoudou
Summary: Now complete. A mysterious creature is wreaking havoc on a residential neighborhood, and getting rid of it may require Leon to make a sacrifice that he'd never expected to be so hard.
1. Demand

Metal Fangs on Satin Glass  
  
A/N: Consider me somewhat uninitiated in the world of Petshop of Horrors. I've seen the four-OVA series (...in French..._) and read the first three mangas released by Tokyopop, but as I have no command of Japanese, I haven't read any of the others yet. But seriously, I'm a huge fan. I even dressed up as Count D for Halloween. Yes, I'm a dork. Sue me.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"And that will be all?" drawled Count D in his unctuous voice, delicately handing the covered cage to his clientele. The contents were unknown to Leon, but as he hid behind the velvet curtains of D's sales-room and watched the transaction of business, he was going to change that. As the gaunt woman and her husband began to leave the shop, Leon stepped out from behind the curtains, gun at hip, and demanded of Count D: "What did you sell them?"  
  
"Officer...It's merely a parrot."   
  
Leon gave him a weird look, then approached the couple and flung the cover off of the cage. Beneath it was a brilliantly hued parrot, its crest a noble shade of gold, and its feathers a scintillating mix of colors that Leon had never even dreamed of. It was almost dazzling. Lost in its brilliant down, he did not notice that both the couple and D were staring at him in a rather confused fashion, but he snapped out of his trance in a rather indignant fashion.  
  
"All right, go on..." he grumbled underneath his breath. "...I'll catch you eventually, D...grr..."  
  
"Officer, you've ambushed the last six customers I've sold something to as - goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Romero! Remember the rules of the contract! - anyway, as they were walking out of the store, and I'm beginning to wonder why I even let you stay here," D fussed as he re-centered a small portrait of a lizard on the wall. Leon snorted.  
  
"I'm an officer of the law. You have no jurisdiction over where I stay and where I don't."  
  
"Leon, Leon, Leon...won't you ever learn that there are simply some things that you - " he turned to face the tenacious detective and his voice dropped to a deadly tone: "don't interfere in?" Leon simply snorted again. No skinny Chinese man was going to tell him what he could and couldn't mess with, no sir.  
  
"Given all the unfortunate accidents your customers seem to happen to find themselves in, I'm only trying to do them a service! I'm PROTECTING them, D!"  
  
"You are disrupting their peace. People buy my pets to become happy. Would you, as an upstanding officer of the law, deny them that happiness? And furthermore, is it so much to ask that they follow a few simple rules in order to better secure that happiness?"  
  
Leon had backed himself into a corner. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again, but could not bring himself to say anything.  
  
"Silence is a most fitting tone for your voice, Officer Orcot. Even the wildest of beasts knows when to quiet themselves."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Leon walked back to his apartment, most irritated by this verbal slap to the face delivered by none other than Count D, and just as he reached the door received a call on his cell phone from the police chief  
  
"'lo?"  
  
"Leon! Get down to 21st Street right away! What looks like a mountain lion is attacking people in that area and we need backup! Get down there!" No sooner had the boss's mandate had started did it end, and Leon found himself running quickly to the site of the incident. Fortunately, he'd still had his gun with him from his little stakeout at D's, and 21st was very close to his apartment complex.   
  
The day was an unforgiving one. Last night had been horrible weather, with cloudy, rainy skies and thunder that shook the loose plaster off of Leon's apartment ceiling; today was little better, but fortunately the loud peals of lightning had ceased for the time being. Leon couldn't stand rainy weather at all, for it only served to dampen his spirits - and his prized t-shirts. As he ran through the light rain, he wished that he was allowed to drive in a police vehicle, but his less than intelligent driving skills had earned him a license suspension and nearly his job. It wasn't his fault, though; as he told his supervisor: "The kid SAW the car, Chief, and he STILL ran in front of it!"  
  
This was no time to dwell on the near-death of small children, however, as he had reached his destination: a small residential branch of Main Street called 21st. The traffic had been cordoned off by several police blockades, and Leon saw that smack in the middle there was what appeared to be a mountain lion, growling and slowly treading in circles. Its fur was matted with the dirty city rain that fell from the sky, rivers running down every hair on its body, and racked with the bitter cold, it shivered.   
  
Leon strode to the officer in charge at the scene. "What the hell is going on here, Epstein?" he barked.   
  
"This creature has been prowling the neighborhood for an hour. It's already killed two people, a dog and injured six others." Leon snapped his head in the opposite direction and saw several wounded people being tended to by a police medic.  
  
"Then what's the fucking holdup?! Shoot the goddamn thing!"  
  
"We can't. This guy over here claims it's an endangered species, and under the Police Natural Preservation Act, we're not allowed to. We're just waiting for Animal Control to get to the scene." Epstein pointed to his right, but he didn't need to; Count D grabbed Leon on the shoulder, a smirk lining his pale face.  
  
"Fancy seeing you here, Leon."  
  
"D?! What the - "  
  
"And after all I taught you about the beauty of silence, you still talk," D interjected forcefully, cutting off Leon's tirade. Fuming, Leon turned to the officer again. "If we need Animal Control, why was I called here?!"  
  
"He wanted to talk to you." D grinned and took Leon by the arm, and with surprising strength dragged him off out of the general crowd's earshot.  
  
"Listen, Leon. This is a rare type of leopard called a coatlicue that I sold to some foolish family three days ago. It's descended from an Aztec goddess." Leon, taken aback by such a fanciful tale, narrowed his eyes at the Count.   
  
"YOU listen, you son of a bitch. You've put this goddamn carrot in front of me long enough and I'm gonna take it. D, you've crossed the line with this one. I'll give you rare birds and mermaids, but a cat-goddess-thing? Absolutely not. I'm shooting it down before it kills someone else." He took the gun out of his holster, but D, a look of desperation on his face, stepped in front of him.  
  
"Leon, don't! Look at this reasonably! So few of these creatures exist and you're going to blow holes into one of them? That's not rational!" Leon snorted his obstinate snort once again and pushed D aside into an azalea bush. However, D was back on his feet before Leon could even take another step, and he was stopped once again.  
  
"I tried to be diplomatic with you, Orcot, but I do not suppose that is going to work. I have warned you before and I am warning you now that I am not to be trifled with." In one swift, liquid motion that caught Leon totally off-guard, Count D jumped backwards whipped a small knife out of his kimono and threw it at Leon. It whistled through the air before slicing clean through Leon's gun and just barely stopping at his hand. Leon gasped in surprise and dropped the gun, which was rendered useless.   
  
"I never miss my mark, Officer. One learns to defend oneself in Chinatown." Leon shook his head, looked at the ruined gun, and then at Count D, whose face was that of a man firmly resolved.   
  
"All...all right." Before Leon could speak again, the cat let out a ferocious growl, but stood its ground. Leon turned back to D. "What do you want ME to do about this?"  
  
"You are to offer tribute to the coatlicue." Leon was reviled; his face twisted into an expression of horror and confused disgust. "The goddess that this cat represents was one who could create and destroy at a whim, and as such her children inherited such a nature. Bring the coatlicue a living dog and let her kill it, and from there I will be able to subdue her."   
  
Leon snapped back into hard-ass detective mode. "That's insane! We're going to kill an innocent dog just to appease this supposed cat-goddess? I don't buy that at all."  
  
"She is not getting any happier, Leon. Time is running out for your police crew - for all of these people. She's only holding back. This creature is capable of killing every single one of these people without any of them so much as knowing what hit them. Hm...I'd say there's about forty people watching this spectacle right now. Wouldn't you say that life for life is a fair tradeoff in these circumstances?"   
  
"I..."  
  
"Death is a necessary aspect of all of our lives, Officer. If I had my way, no one would be hurt - not the dog, not the coatlicue, not any of these people - but the cycle of life always reaches this point for everyone. Will you do this for these forty people, Leon?"  
  
Leon braced himself.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Closing notes: This is just a simple two-part fanfic. =P It'll be wrapped up in the second chapter. Heh. I did this at 1:30 in the morning and finished it in about an hour, so it's probably kinda mediocre, but I rather like it myself. -_-;  
  
Oh yes, and the title will make sense eventually. 


	2. Departure

Metal Fangs on Satin Glass   
  
Chapter 2

  
  
A/N: Know what sucks? Madlax. How many girls-with-guns animes can Bee Train force down our throats before we start to realize that they're ALL THE SAME THING? Sheesh. Please note that this author's note has nothing to do with the fanfiction at hand.

  
  
  
  
Leon was running through the rain.   
  
_Figures,_ he thought._ I've gotta find the goddamn dog while that goddamn kimonoed bastard chills out in the police car. And then after I kill the goddamn thing the inspector's gonna be on my ass about animal cruelty...Ahh! Goddamn!_ He snapped out of his reverie to kick the nearest thing, upending the hapless trashcan and leaving it with a formidable dent. He just snarled at the chaos he had caused and walked on.  
  
Count D had sent Leon to find a stray dog. Few would notice the absence of a homeless mutt versus a family pet, and getting one from the pound would require more red tape than they had time to put up with. Strays were plentiful on Main Street, Leon's destination, which was merely a stone's throw away from 21st. Sprinting there, and especially in the harsh weather, and in addition to having on no more than a T-shirt and jeans, was beginning to have a physical toll on him. He coughed, stopped his run for a bit, and shivered.  
  
The common cold was no stranger to Leon. In a police job, and especially one as stressful as a drug enforcement officer, nasty viruses like influenza happened to find their way around the immune system, and this was no exception for the temperamental young officer. When one is afflicted with such a problem, it is hardly in one's interest to dash around on a cold and rainy day; nonetheless, duty called for Leon Orcot, and neither sleet nor hail nor freezing rain would hinder him. It would, however, bring him a nasty sniffle.  
  
Leon finally got to Main Street after passing the last of the white- collar houses, and it was a sight for his urban-oriented eyes. Cars slammed down the street, roaring through the rain, horns blazing; their persistence was a cacophonous symphony occupying a vacant spot in his ears. The tall buildings, some of them brand-new and others ramshackle, brought a vague and grungy sexiness to the aura of the city. Alleyways lined with shadows beckoned persistently, having nothing to offer to the casual pedestrian but a mugger with a vendetta against society or a destitute vagrant. The air was alive with the scent of cheap street cuisine and the fall of the dirty rain, and there in busily lonely San Francisco, Leon never felt so alive.  
  
Or cold.  
  
His thoughts, small but persistent vessels, returned to haunt him again. _Man, I'm freezing! Some of Count D's jasmine tea would really hit the spot around now..._  
  
He stopped.  
  
"Was I just thinking of Count D? And his tea? Gah...Concentrate! Find a dog!" Leon tossed his drenched, limp hair in a fruitless attempt to shake the water out and stalked into the nearest alley. It turned up nothing but some worn-for-wear trashcans and a scraggly cat. Having thought it a small dog, Leon approached it, only for it to hiss and run away. He had never been particularly good with animals.  
  
Alley after alley produced similar results: plenty of trashcans and felines but not a dog in sight.  
  
"Dammit!" Leon exclaimed loudly; his voice was almost drowned out by the forceful pounding of raindrops. "Where did all the dogs in this city go?!" He sat down on a trashcan under the canopy of an overhanging alley, infinitely relieved to be out of the rain. He shivered violently and assessed himself; sitting there, in a back alley in San Francisco, drenched and pissed, wearing a T-shirt with a tree on the front and a pair of jeans.  
  
What the HELL am I doing? he thought to himself, and a sneeze ripped out of his lungs.  
  
"Shit. I am _definitely_ going to get sick."  
  
At that moment, he heard something prowling in the shadows, methodic footsteps wary of the unknown intruder in its territory. Leon quickly rose to his feet, and a pathetically scrawny dog emerged from hiding. It pained the old hard-ass just to look at it. Its wiry frame was soaking wet and covered in sores, and it walked with a pronounced limp on its left hind leg. The dog's tail was ratty and mostly hairless, and similar spots on its body were also missing fur. One of its eyes was covered in a thin layer of rheum, blinded by neglect and malnutrition, and caked with a thick crust of filth. Leon's heart was torn apart at the site of this pitiable thing, its functioning eye glowing with hope that this mysterious man would take it away from that awful San Francisco alley and love it like someone had loved it before. Leon gazed into its heartbreakingly gaunt visage as a moral battle unfolded inside of him. Sacrificing the dog would end the misery that it surely felt, but how could he bear to destroy something with so much hope left inside of it? He called the dog over with a jovial whistle, and it practically galloped towards him despite its bad leg.  
  
"You poor bastard..." murmured Leon as he gazed upon the dog, looking up at him, wagging its Spartan tail excitedly. "Know any tricks, boy? Sit." The dog obediently sat at the barked command, and Leon grinned widely.  
  
At that moment, a flash of realization struck him. Count D, lieutenant Epstein, and all of the other people facing the coatlicue needed him there. He looked at the emaciated mutt, still sitting, still wagging its tail intently, and said to him "Come on, boy. We're going for a walk."

The walk to 21st Street felt a lot shorter with the dog at Leon's side. It had collapsed twice on its hurt limb, and after the second time Leon picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. Upon arriving back at the fracas, he noticed that the coatlicue had savaged several of the police barricades, and the medics were tending to a few more people than before. Two tranquilizer darts were stuck in its shoulder blade, having no discernible effect, and the low rumble of its growl had grown distinctly more threatening. Just as Leon had thought, Count D was sitting inside a warm police car, and upon his arrival he burst out, looking slightly hysterical. He almost ran towards Leon; it was the fastest Leon ever seen the Count move.  
  
"Officer, WHERE have you been? While you were off playing Stupid Pet Tricks, the coatlicue has injured more people! Oh, heavens...What is that thing you're carrying?" Leon looked down at the dog cradled in his sleeveless arms, still looking up at him with happiness shining in his eye.  
  
"It's...it's..." Leon couldn't bear the fact that he'd just selected this alley mongrel to become a tribute to some Aztec goddess cat.  
  
"Well, we haven't all day. Hand it to me."  
  
Leon did not move. Count D took another step towards him. His feet barely seemed to touch the ground, and a spasmodic thought of jasmine tea flitted through Leon's brain.  
  
"Officer, hand the dog to me."  
  
"Count..."  
  
"Give me the dog, or I will take it."  
  
Leon looked down at the dog one more time. It was still happy, tail jerking back and forth. A stab of pain ripped through Leon's heart, but he gave the dog to the Count anyway, almost subconsciously.  
  
Count D then looked down at the canine as well, and he wore an expression of genuine love and guilt on his face. There was something almost apologetic to his pale face. He stepped through the crowd, silently parting the rows of people and the police blockade, and kneeled before the coatlicue. Words in some ancient, dead language parted his vivid lips in a mysterious sibilance, and the angered growl of the cat slowly regressed into a contented purr. The words, falling completely foreign on Leon's ears, grew to a subdued crescendo, and finally with a flourish the Count rose to his feet.  
  
Leon Orcot, for once in his life, could not bear to look at something. The vision of the coatlicue tearing this pathetic dog apart was simply too much for him to bear. He couldn't completely avert his gaze, however, and cast his eyes on the carnage for just one second. In that single, painfully long instant, he saw the face of the dog pointed directly towards him, its innards being torn out by a remorseless savage, and its tail was still thumping against the ground, albeit a little slower, a little weaker.  
  
And its eye still flashed with youthful hope.  
  
Leon collapsed.

Everything went black.

When he came to, Count D's hand was on his face.  
  
"Gah...Damn you...Get off of me..." muttered Leon, batting away the near-skeletal fingers on his cheek. They were cold, but fit perfectly. Their touch, then, was quite like Death.  
  
He was in a hospital. The halogen light above him pierced his eyes relentlessly and everything surrounding him was a shade of ersatz, unwelcoming white. The Count, dressed in a different kimono, gazed upon him with concern written in his face.  
  
"You've finally come to, Officer!" exclaimed Count D, rising from the bedside chair excitedly.  
  
"Count...how long have I been here? How long have you been here?"  
  
"About ten hours." Leon was not entirely sure which question the Count was answering. "I've brought some jasmine tea. I know how much you like it, despite your nitpicky denial."  
  
Leon opened his mouth to complain, but decided against it. Jasmine tea sounded all too good at the moment.  
  
"Why am I here, Count?"  
  
"Assumedly, you collapsed from either emotional exhaustion, physical illness or both. You will be bedridden for a day or two, I'm afraid." Leon groaned. His chief would bust his ass for missing more work.  
  
"Count," Leon wondered out loud, and the words escaped his mouth before he really realized what he was saying, "why did the dog have to die?" Count D poured tea from a delicate flowered teapot into a matching cup. Leon found that he could hardly lift his arms to take the glass; as if reading his mind, the Count took the glass and eased tea into Leon's lips with the gentleness of a good-hearted matron.  
  
"The dog, Officer, would have died in a matter of time. We all will." Count D lifted the cup away from Leon's lips so that he could speak.  
  
"But...It looked so hopeful...and it was helpless against that beast...Dammit..."  
  
"The slaughter of the weak and the innocent is much like the sound of metal fangs on satin glass. So merciless, so sinful, so silent." More tea found its way to Leon's dehydrated throat. He loved the taste of jasmine tea. So warm and subtle, and the Count hadn't added the three pounds of sugar that he normally did.  
  
"And...what happened to the...coat lick thing..."  
  
"Coatlicue, officer. It had no more reason to continue on this mortal coil, having been appeased."  
  
"So it's dead..."  
  
"It is dead."  
  
"All that trouble...All that heartbreak...Those people killed, and that dog...Just to satisfy the needs of some goddess...That would have died anyway..." He began to cough violently, a tremulous and phlegmatic hacking. Count D released wordless sounds of concern and, after the fit had subsided, steadied the tea at Leon's mouth once more. He smiled at the ailing officer, a winsome and vaguely heartbroken smile.  
  
"Life is heartbreak, Officer. We live and we die, as do those around us. It is the cycle of life."  
  
Leon said no more. He only stared out the window, to the true light, and the truly white birds arcing across the horizon, and with a final fleeting glimpse of hopeful light he closed his eyes and slept.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Well, that turned out pretty well! And, just as a note, the coatlicue is a real creature, with all of the associated mythology having been mentioned in this fic. Anyway...Drop me a review or two, it's four in the morning and I want to know that my late-night efforts are appreciated. =) 


End file.
